Enlarge / The first test firing of a flight version of SpaceX’s Raptor rocket engine. (credit: Elon Musk/Twitter) Last Friday, as most Americans slept off their tryptophan hangovers, headed to the mall for Black Friday shopping, or tried in vain to avoid political discussions with visiting family members, SpaceX founder Continue Reading
Technology
Chrome OS update turns Chromebooks into scanners
(credit: Valentina Palladino) Chromebook cameras just learned some new tricks, as Google started pushing out Chrome OS 96 on Tuesday. As detailed by a Google blog post, the update brings the ability to use your camera to scan images and convert them into PDFs or JPEGs. If your Chromebook has a webcam Continue Reading
Today’s best deals: Google Chromecast, top noise-canceling headphones, and more
Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica) Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, but if you didn’t get everything you want, today’s Dealmaster roundup still has a number of the better deals from those events. Our top 4K streaming stick, Google’s Chromecast with Google TV, is 20 percent off, for instance, while Continue Reading
Thousands of AT&T customers in the US infected by new data-stealing malware
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Thousands of networking devices belonging to AT&T Internet subscribers in the US have been infected with newly discovered malware that allows the devices to be used in denial-of-service attacks and attacks on internal networks, researchers said on Tuesday. The device model under attack is the EdgeMarc Continue Reading
Planetary scientists are starting to get stirred up by Starship’s potential
Enlarge / A rendering of SpaceX’s Starship traveling to the Saturn system. (credit: SpaceX) Jennifer Heldmann stared at the computer screens on her desk, watching as a rocket’s upper stage slammed into a crater near the South Pole of the Moon. In the name of science, a 2.3-ton chunk of Continue Reading
UK orders Facebook to sell Giphy, rejects Meta’s proposed merger conditions
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Anadolu Agency ) The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today ordered Facebook owner Meta to sell Giphy, saying the merger “would reduce competition between social media platforms and that the deal has already removed Giphy as a potential challenger in the display advertising market.” Continue Reading
Users revolt as Microsoft bolts a short-term financing app onto Edge
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Microsoft is taking a lot of flak for planning to integrate a short-term financing app into the company’s Edge browser. The app would allow users to make purchases immediately and pay for them at a future date. In recent years, Edge has built a following of Continue Reading
Labor board orders a do-over in Amazon warehouse union election
Enlarge / An Amazon warehouse in Germany on April 2, 2020. (credit: Patrick Pleul | picture alliance | Getty Images) A regional official at the National Labor Relations Board has called for a new union election at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama, fulfillment center following recommendations issued in August by a hearing officer. Continue Reading
Lawsuit: Google employees were fired for upholding “Don’t be evil” code
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images | The Tonight Show) Three former Google software engineers who sued the company yesterday claim they were fired for following Google’s famous “Don’t be evil” mantra. “Google terminated each plaintiffs’ employment with it for adhering to the directive ‘Don’t be evil’ and calling Continue Reading
Asteroid-sample return shows water on its rocks’ surface
Enlarge / Itokawa, the original source of the dust grains examined in a new study. (credit: ISAS, JAXA) About a decade ago, we were surprised to discover that there’s a fair amount of water on the surface of the Moon. Given that the Moon has no atmosphere and receives enough Continue Reading